Activity One - Mind Mapping - Companies

To explore the ways in which civil society groups and corporations have developed strategies to address global climate change we are going to go old school and get out A3 plain paper and the coloured pens. We are going to focus on England/UK as our case study and use some very English institutions to find out what companies and the every day person are doing to raise awareness of climate change and/or reduce our impact. 

For our companies we are going to look at Marks and Spencers - which is an English department store which opened in 1884. It was actually started by a Polish migrant and a local lad (bo/man) from Skipton, Yorkshire - global interactions at its finest! The other company is Boots Ltd which is a pharmacist which opened in 1849. It initially started as a family run herbal medicine shop in Nottingham and is now somewhere where you now pick up a medical prescription, get your eyes and ears tested and pick up the latest lipstick from Chanel. It has recently been sold by Walgreens to a private equity group. This is important as it poses questions concerning accountability. 

• • 1. The group is going to be divided into two or four to mind map one of the TNC companies below.

    2. Using the resources below mind map how one of the companies are showing how they are actively responding to the issues of global climate change. Use the Geography Concepts to help you to organise your thoughts.

       1. 1. 1. 1. • Place - Where, who and what scale?

                   • Process - What are they doing? Describe what the companies are aiming to do.

                   • Power - Has there been any successes? Boots - What happens to corporate climate commitments when ownershio changes and there are no longer public shareholders to answer to?

                   • Possibility - What are they hoping to achieve in the future?

    3. Present to the other half of the group your findings. The half not presenting will fill in the relevant section of the note taking grid.

Useful Resources

Activity Two - Mind Mapping - Civil Societies

You are now going to go through the same process as activity one but the focus this time is going to be on two English civil society groups. We are going to focus on the English branch of GreenPeace and the very British Institution of the Women's Institute. 

GreenPeace was formed in 1971 by a Canadian and US activist with the aim that the Earth should nurture its life and diversity. By the lat 1970s there were over 15 GreenPeace groups across the world. They have moved away from the marginal company of their early years to being an influential global civil society group. The Women's Institute was set up in 1915 to educate the rural women of Wales and to get them involved in the growing and preservation of food. Today the Women's Institute is recognised as an organisation that has quietly changing the UK.